Picture: Orika Auxoriya (left) and Hikari Samae (right)

Be honest. What sort of hero would you look up to? One that helps from the sidelines, or one in the field doing all the combat work? This is actually a question I've been asked by others and even myself. As absentminded as I usually am toward everything else, this question has bugged me since my elementary school years. In reality, background heroes such as construction workers, scientists, and doctors are hardly recognized compared to big pros with mega, butt-kicking powers. That is the way I see the society. I decided to become a hero, because I thought, 'Hey. Why can't someone be both?' Thus, my dream began.

Being the daughter of two doctors, I already had my medical basics down, along with a few of my siblings. You should see them though! My oldest brother is already out on his own, but he's already one of Japan's best doctors! My second oldest brother is more than likely gonna be the best pediatrician ever, probably due to his young mind that doesn't really seem to match his actual age. Brother number three, this one younger than me, is somewhat struggling with his studies, but he'll get there. Finally, the twins, while toddlers, are already showing so much interest in-! Hold up. I'm getting off topic. Where was I? Oh yeah, so it turns out, I'll be fighting-. No, wait. I'm not there yet. Wait! I remember.

I wanted to become a hero with friends to support my goal. Besides, 'no one is truly rich unless they got friends in their corner,' or however that saying goes. My family thinks I can do it, and why not? I know my bandages can do more than seal a cut, especially since I acquired some new accessories from a nice guy to give me some offense. I know my quirk is uncannily similar to one of my classmates, but at the same time, I think a few of my friend's quirks match some peeps' quirks from 1-B, so I can't really be judged here.

And today, my dream continues. Finals just happened, so now it's on to the practical. And guess what! We'll be fighting the teachers! What! Okay, I'm gonna admit, I'm downright terrified. Since I got my new weights, I've been training tirelessly the past couple days while studying for some basic hits to take down the robots we thought we were gonna face, but it's quite a challenge. I mostly only got into UA thanks to an unmentioned rescue category, but I'm grateful either way. Anyhoo, I thought the practical would be hard enough with robots, but now the teachers? Oh boy. The awesome news is, I got Samae as a partner, and he's stupid strong, so I just know we'll pass with our combined skills against Mr. Vlad King! So, the mentioned events bring us to now.

The two of us stand on one side of a large parking lot. I can hardly wait! It's all so exciting! I find myself bouncing on my knees in anticipation while my partner stares straight ahead. He doesn't look so happy, but I think he's just disguising his nervousness. I've been trying to discuss a plan with him over the first three matches until Seshin's and Tojuta's test, until I gave up and went to watch my friends. So, point being, we don't really have anything to follow. But that's perfectly fine! We can talk about it on the way. I play with my weights on the ends of my bandages as I wait.

Finally, a loud buzzer sounds, and a voice announces our test. "Team Samae and Auxoriya: Practical Exam. Ready? Go!"

Without a word Samae starts to march forward. Wait, where's he going? Does he think we can just walk on over to the goal? We gotta do something at least.

I jog to catch up with him and walk behind. Our opponent hasn't shown up yet, but I don't see the escape gate either, so I start talking. "Hey! Hey, Samae! D'ya have a game plan?"

He stays silent and keeps walking.

"No? Okay, cool! Cuz, I got an idea we can try! So, as I see it, there's no shadows anywhere really, and the best environment you can work in is a shady one. So I was thinking we can use what we have around us to create you a more suitable space to fit your quirk with as little property damage we can-."

"Auxoriya!" he interrupts me and turns to glare. "It's not gonna happen!"

. . . What? "I'm sorry, come again?"

He brings a claw glove to his face to think for a second and takes a breath. "Look. I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. I don't think you being my partner here is gonna result in a positive outcome."

"Well, if you're scared about getting hurt, I can treat ya, and you'll-."

"That's not what I mean. I feel like you're gonna mess this up."

". . . H.. hang on... how so? I'm just trying to help."

"Well I don't really see how you have helped me in this kind of situation before. For example, the combat training. When that was brought up before this, the first thing about that I thought of was how you messed us over by blabbing our plan to the other team. That didn't help at all. Quite the opposite."

"Well.. um.. I tied up Tojuta. Didn't I do good there?"

"Not my point. I believe we would've won if you didn't show off and try to diss our opponent."

... I don't know what to say here.

"You wanna help, then we split up and head to the escape gate. That way we can buy time for each other if we come across Vlad, and you'll stay out of my way. Sure the place is too open, but there's such a distance in the area, that we'll possibly stand more of a chance. He'll more than likely come across me at some point, so I'll have the cuffs." He shows me the tool and waits for me to respond. When I don't, he sighs and turns back around. "Best of luck."

I say nothing and stand there with my head down while he goes ahead. I wring my bandage as I think.

He... he thinks I'm hopeless. Heh. It shouldn't be a surprise though. Who doesn't? He's just stating the obvious. I guess some people are designed to be the real heroes and others are just meant for the sidelines. All my family and I are just designed for hospital work, so what am I doing here? Eh. What was I even thinking? I should just-.

I suddenly feel something hard at the end of my strap as my hand slides down it. I look down and hold up the edge to see the weights I had clipped on. I stare at it a bit more.

No. Someone still believes in me. I'm not hopeless. Quitting's for chumps! Anyone can be a hero, no matter their quirk, and I aim to show that. I need to look at this a whole new way. I suddenly look up and realize to myself. "Hey, I can get me one of those."

I quickly get down on my knees and unwind my bandages from my shoulders and rehang them, this time loosely around my neck. I finish my new scarf by tossing the ends of my rolls behind my shoulders. Here comes the Green Cross.

Samae's already out of sight, and I can only assume he's already come across Vlad King. Chances are he's having a hard time though. I run to catch up to him, throwing together a quick plan for the assumed situation.

If Samae's already fighting, then I don't really have enough time to just slip by for the escape gate. If my partner's already engaged, then our only choice is to fight. . . . Nice. This should be fun.

I finally see a large clearing with two figures. That's no doubt my partner and opponent. Samae seems more nimble than Vlad, obviously due to the weights, but I can tell he's having a hard time. He can get some momentum by sinking a bit in his own shadow and pushing himself out to leap over the pro and is swiping his claw gloves around at any opening he can find, though Vlad doesn't leave many.

Vlad King himself has a set of hardened blood in the shape of knives coming out of his glove, swinging his own weapon at Samae.

I have to act as soon as possible. There are many cars in the area, some already toppled over and smashed. I set my action plan and run around the scene, finding the biggest clutter of busted up cars jammed together. Staying as far as possible, I start to pull off the largest parts of the vehicles and scatter them in a line toward the fight and away from the sun. I just have to make sure there are no gaps. It's incredibly tough, and it even hurts to pull everything together.

Samae's sure to have seen me by now but hasn't called to me or anything. Finally though, my path is set, and I turn to the action. I pull a weight off one strap and hook it onto the other with the its weight. Once I'm set, I start running to the scene, pulling the weighted end of my strap from over my shoulder and twirl it around, just as Vlad King grabs Samae by the throat and slams him against the ground. A sheet of blood erupts from his glove and covers Samae, pinning him to the ground. Samae wriggles to try to use his glove to tear through the blood, but Vlad raises his fist to knock him unconscious.

I can hear the teacher talking as I near.

"Bet ya wished ya had cooperated with your partner now, huh? Keep in mind teamwork is supposed to be one of the strong suits of a hero."

Now close enough, I release my bandage to let it fly at Vlad's raised arm. Just as I hoped, it loops around, and I pull back to tighten it. With his arm held in place, Vlad King turns to glare at me, showing his pointy teeth.

"Well, I was not expecting this," he groans.

"That's my partner there, man. Leave him alone," I shoot back.

"Well, I don't really have to worry about him anymore." He turns and grabs my strap with his other hand and yanks it toward him, pulling me off my feet and making me fall forward. With no more tension on my strap, he takes it off him and points his glove down at me.

No! I quickly roll to my side, just in time to dodge another tarp of dried blood and leap up. I'm passing this final! Fight me! He stomps toward me as I'm picking up my loosened bandage. I think fast to realize Samae's arm is right next to where Vlad had lazily tossed aside my trap.

"Samae! Grab the end!"

Not questioning it, he manages to pull the bandage at him, and I the other way, tightening my bandage just at our opponent's feet. Just as I hoped, Vlad trips over and lands on the hard asphalt. He may be weighed down, but he won't stay down forever.

I ready my unweighted bandage and rush at him, jumping on his back and leaning down over his head. I may not have the handcuffs, but I can still give us an advantage. I grab at his gloved hand, but he starts to struggle. He's stronger than me, so I have to hurry! I yank my weightless strap down to him and wave my hands down at his hand. He struggles as I work, but I'm almost done.

Suddenly, Vlad seems to gain more strength as he shoves me off, tearing my bandage off of the rest from my shoulder. I lay on the ground as he stands to his feet. He points his fist down to me.

"It was a good try, kid," he starts. "Better luck next time." Something clicks in his glove but nothing happens. Confused, tries again. He finally gets a better look of his hand. The vents at his fist are wrapped up and tied securely in my bandage I worked with while I had him down! Red stains grow on the white surface as he stares at it in disbelief.

He doubles over as if in pain. "You.. blocked off my blood."

"Sorry, man. Doctor's orders," I retort and start toward my partner.

The teachers may have thought they put us at a disadvantage against Vlad, but they were careless. What counters blood? Bandages.

I kneel down to his prison and tear off a small square from my wraps.

"Auxoriya," he breathes. "What on earth?"

"Pretty cool, I know," I nod.

"Well, that, but just get outta here! Vlad's stunned or something, so get to the escape gate!"

"But then I'm leaving you here! That ain't happening!"

"It's fine! If you take the time to free me, our opponent will probably be back in the game!"

"Then so be it." I lay the square in the palm of my hand and use it to peel off parts of the dried blood. Some even reverts to its liquid state and drips on my partner.

"Uhn, that's gross," he shudders. Finally though, he breaks free from the rest and stands back up, rapidly brushing himself off.

"You wanna talk about it?" I tease.

"Oh, shut up."

"Alright, in all seriousness, do you still have the cuffs?"

"Right here." He holds them up and tries to hand them to me. I push them back into his chest.

"Keep them. I have an idea." I point to the cluster of car parts a little ways from us. "I made you a shadow pool over there. Follow my lead. You with me?"

He stares at me a bit and sighs. "I'm ready." With that, he runs to the pile as Vlad slowly stands back up.

"You sure know your knots. I'll admit, I can't get it off. I'm curious as to why you aren't running. Is that why your partner's not here?"

Quick, Orika, respond in a way so that he won't even know what to expect. "Who's Samae?" Nailed it.

Looking rather annoyed than confused, he glances around until setting his sights on the junk pile I threw together. He smiles grimly. "Now I see what you did."

"Bet'chya don't!" I taunt, readjusting my weights to both straps and swinging the ends around for momentum.

"Whatever kid." He reaches out his hand, making the several splashes of blood around me slowly run to him and towers up to his hand. He clutches his fist around the pole of blood, solidifying it into a spear for himself. He points it at me. "Just to prove that that's not a trap, come at me and give it everything you got!"

Even though my legs are shaking, I take a deep breath and put my best foot forward. It's all good. I got this! I throw my right wrap at him, as he lets his spear go with his left arm and holds it up to block it. He yanks it toward him and jabs his weapon at me. To dodge, I fall forward and roll past him, trying to pull him with me to face, but he holds strong and jerks me in my tracks. He pulls back his hand with the spear and tries to jab the butt of it at me, but I use my other bandage to tighten and block the move. The end of the spear that touches my bandage melts and soaks in. Even though it's weighed down, the soaked part of my strap loosens a bit as if it has a mind of its own.

My eyes widen as it hits me. Vlad King can still control his blood even when it's soaked in my bandages!

"Gotcha!" He pulls back his fist for a punch but also to command his blood to pull me forward by my own weapon! I fall into his range as he swings his arm out and punches at my chest. I fly backward, ripping my tightened bandages and rolling back from the force all the way in front of the car parts.

I sharply grunt at the pain. Well that sure hurt. I clutch my chest and quickly check for a broken rib. When I don't feel one, (to my relief), I stand back up and reach for the end of my bandage. It's then that I realize I don't have my weights. They're still on the ends I just lost! This just got a whole lot harder.

I look up at Vlad, who's a good two meters from me. He glares me down and grunts. "Will that be it?"

"Nah," I fake. "I'm just getting started." I twist from side to side to stretch before reaching my arms up for a final prep. However though, thanks to my stretch, my arms' shadows just barely reaches the wreckage behind me. I pray Samae gets the idea before bending down to run. Here goes nothing.

I take off, pumping my arms without any offense of my own. He tosses aside his spear, ready to catch me. Once I'm close enough, I dive at him, hoping to tackle him to the ground. Instead though, he pivots and grabs me by the collar of my outfit. With me in his grasp, he lays me on the ground, keeping me in a locked position. I cringe at the pain, but look down at my shadow that reaches past my opponent's stance.

"The same deal I told your partner," he scolds, ready to end the match. "If you want to accomplish something you know you can't handle on your own, you get help first."

I smirk through my stare. "What do ya think I did?"

Before he can even react, the handcuffs lash out from my shadow and snatch around Vlad's foot. We both look down at the act as Samae's head, arm, and shoulders emerge from our shade with a huge, pointy smirk. The other side of the cuffs is hooked around his wrist.

"Got 'im," he pants.

The same buzzer from the start sounds again as all of us relax to catch our breaths. "Team Samae and Auxoriya have passed the exam."

Samae fully comes out of the shadows and reaches down to help me up. I take his hand and wobble to my feet.

"Hey, Auxoriya?" he starts. "I'm sorry. I.. I guess you proved me wrong."

I punch his shoulder. "Don't worry about it, bro; it happens!" I hold out my hand as if for a shake. "Just try not to lose so quickly next time."

He chuckles and takes the gesture. "I'll remember that, partner."

I smile and nod. "Call me 'Auxi,' dude."

"Congratulations, kids," Vlad King interrupts. "While you both have much to improve on, you've done well. Keep it up."

"Yes sir." We both nod.

"And Auxoriya." He holds out his hand with my weights I had lost. "You dropped something."

I take them back and clutch them tightly. With all said and done, we make our way to the exit, leaving the pro to taking off the cuffs, weights, and my bandage still on his glove. Or trying to.

"So," Samae begins. "Seshin and Tojuta are next, correct?"

"I think they got a match in between. If they're smart though, they should be heading over to their arena now."

Samae laughs through his teeth. "Can't wait."